The Gang Unit
by dla4079
Summary: The story of two gang investigators trying to discover the truth! this is an ongoing project, and I will update as I complete each chapter!


**Chapter One **

I hate phones! Badly! All because of a phone call I find myself in a situation I was not wanting to be in. Now I know some of ya'll are wondering how can a simple phone call get someone into a situation that causes them to hate phones. Well it is simple, and if you have time I will explain how.

It started out like any other day. Well let me take that back, it started out like any other day for some one else. You see I am a Gang Investigator for the State Jail in my city; my name is Capt. David Lane of the Special Investigations Squad at the State Jail. For me this was a special day, it was my day off. First one I had in over a month. All I wanted to do was sit and watch T.V., drink some tea, and enjoy my God granted day off. But no, that would be too simple. I woke up around 6:00 am, as usual and thought, "Man this sucks, I was hoping to sleep in." but I didn't let that stop me. I got up fixed some coffee and got a cigarette and went out onto the front porch and sat there drinking my coffee and actually enjoying the sunrise. Well as I was coming back into the house to get another cup of fine coffee, the phone rang. I looked at the caller I.D. and sure enough it was the jail. "Damn!!!" I thought. I wasn't going to answer it at first, but I am dedicated to my job. A quality I hate about myself. Why can't I be like other people and just not give a damn about my job? That is something I envy in some of my co-workers.

But I picked up the phone anyways. "This is ."

It was Central, of course. "Capt, Major wanted me to get hold of you. Hold on and I will patch you through." it was Officer Bartlett. She was a good officer, and a joy to talk to, or was until now.

"Captain, I know it's your day off, but we need you at the unit. You may want to see this." Major Orlander had stated to me in a somber voice.

Of course I said, "Alright, let me get dressed and I am on my way." I knew right then I wasn't going to like this, not one bit. I put on my shirt and jeans, got my boots on and got my equipment and took off. Ever have one of those feelings? You know the ones I am talking about. The ones where you know life as you know it is about to go out of control.

Well that was the feeling I was having. As I pulled onto the unit I could feel that my day was going to go to hell in a hand basket.

I walked into the unit and passed by the front desk, flashed my I.D. at the front desk operator, "Morning Captain." she said, and I just grunted. Didn't want to be an ass, but the closer I got to the Major's office the worse I felt. Normally I would stop and chat with her. I think she is cute and any chance I can to talk to her I take it. But this morning I wasn't in the mood. I walked into the Majors office and he sat there looking at a file on his desk. He looked at me, "Captain you will need to look at this." he said as he closed the file and pushed it to me. As I picked it up he went on saying, "That file was sent to us by the State Senate, it is a Life Endangerment Case." I looked at him and asked, rather pissed off," You got me up here for this. I have Investigators that can handle these things!"

He just looked at me and said, "Read it and you will understand."

Did I mention I hate phones? I read the file and the more I read the file the worse my stomach hurt. It was a life endangerment file, but not a normal one. The offender claimed that the Court Judge and the Warden had put a hit out on him and wanted him off the unit. Out of the state as a matter of fact. God why did I answer the phone. I read the statement from the offender and he claimed that the hit was put out due to the fact that he had knowledge that the Court Judge and the Warden was in the pocket of the Mafia, and that he was their runner. He got incarcerated because he stole over 4 million dollars cash from them both, and that they set him up to go to jail so that he could be killed and no one would be to blame but the offenders. Now I was wondering how I would go about doing this investigation. Oh god I felt sick, I felt the blood run out of my face. I asked the Major, "Why am I investigating this? Why not IAD? They have more jurisdiction than I do; this is clearly a case of conflict."

"Well I was wondering that myself, so I contacted the IAD Division, and they have a suspicion that the Warden and the Court Judge is on the take. So they want you to handle this but not alone. You have a meeting at 8:00 am tomorrow with IAD."

"They know you can investigate this, and as well they don't want to come in here looking around and scare them. Here is the envelope that it came in. Read it."

As I looked at it I knew that they had already had a suspicion of it. It was marked on the return address from an independent magazine company. It was addressed to Major Orlander.

I looked at the Major, "I see they already knew something was up. So they sent the file to you as a magazine, already had me in mind. But why me, why not have you do it?"

"You are already an investigator, and a good one. This is going to get ugly, quick. Just meet with them, and handle this. Don't drop the ball."

Good God I hate phones. I left the office with the image of my career going to hell in a hand basket, with the file in my hands. I was messed up with mixed feelings, some good, and some bad, all awful. I was impressed that the IAD trusted me with the investigation, and trusted me enough to know I wasn't involved in it in any way, but the Warden was a friend of mine. Not a personal friend, we didn't hang out, but a work friend. We talked at work, and he is the one who believed in me enough to promote me. I got home and read the file, looked at the pictures in it. It showed the warden with some men who didn't look like law abiding citizens, quite the opposite actually.

The file contained some wire taps, some bank notes, and the more I read the more I got nervous. I couldn't get the thought out of my head. I wonder how many times I was around when he got phone calls and I was in the room. Then I saw it, the one photo that almost made me fall out. It showed the warden and I talking, and next to us was a guy, I remember the day. We were talking about the gun range, and we were talking to a contractor about getting it fixed up. I met the contractor; I was giving him specs on the range. We were at the range that day. The blown up photo of the contractor showed that he was not just a contractor, but affiliated with mafia. The warden had me talking to this guy. I got mad as hell, he had brung me into this and I never knew.

The next morning I was getting ready for the meeting. I was sick, my stomach hurt, head hurt. I got dressed, and gathered the file. I put the photo on top. I was going to find out about this, one way or the other. I got my equipment and walked out side to get in my truck. As I left my house I noticed that the air seemed funny, thick. I was beginning to get nervous; I knew this day would end badly. I got in my truck and started it up and left. I was going to go and start the end of my career. As I pulled up to IAD Headquarters, I felt like I was going to puke. I got out and went in.

At the front desk I introduced my self, "Hello. I am Capt. Lane and I have an appointment with IAD."

The little lady behind looked at me, and picked up the phone, " Inspector Duke, there is a Capt. Lane here to see you. Yes sir I will." She looked up at me smiled and said, "Capt, go through the first door on your left and the Inspector is waiting to see you."

All I could think is, "why are you smiling at me, do you not see my life going to hell, or are you just happy to see it go?"

I walked into the room and behind a desk was Inspector Duke; I knew this because he looked like an Inspector. Tall, lean, with a face that has seen to much rotten officers. He had the look like he was on the verge of giving up on humanity, and the thought of the code of ethics had become a lost legend. I knew the feeling. He looked at me and tried to smile, but I saw that he had not smiled in a long time. "Good morning Captain. I am glad you are here, but sad for the reason for the visit."

"That makes two of us. I just have one question. Why me? How can I do this?" I asked, hoping they would decide not to have me do this. But of course my luck sucks, big time.

"Cause you are in the inside. You have access that we don't. You can go places on the unit, and never be suspected. We don't want to scare the people involved." Was the answer I knew I would get, and the one I dreaded.

"Look Captain, we have been on this for two years now. We know what is going on, but we never had a chance to get evidence, hard core evidence. We have it now with this inmate. We roll up in there and we could scare them, and never get what we want. We want to bust them, we want to stop them, and end the corruption."

"Well have the inmate sent off the unit and get what you want." was an answer that I knew was going to be shot down.

"No we can't do that; we want him on the unit. We want you to get with him and get what you can. Don't even acknowledge the emergency grievance; we want you to get evidence on the Warden and the Judge. We want you to assist us taking them down." he said as if this was going to be easy. Then he stated, "I know you can do it, I have seen your record, and you are good at what you do."

I just looked at him, and heard some one say, "OK, I'll do it." I looked around for the moron who said that and realized it was me. I said that, and I thought, well there goes my job. Damn phones!!!

Well I figured what the hell, I already said yes so I might as well get all the info on it.

"Give me all the info you have on this case, and all the files you have. Do you have the info on the offender?" I asked, thinking to myself, this is going to go bad quick.

"I am glad you said yes Captain, and yes I have all the information you need and want. Let me tell you all about it and I will have all the files sent to your house." he said as a matter of fact like.

I knew this was going to be a story I don't want to hear, but I did take an oath to uphold the law in a sense and I believe in the code of ethics as set forth by the Department of Corrections. But my biggest question that kept nagging at me was why did this moron wait til now that he was incarcerated to claim LID? Why didn't he just turn states evidence and claim Witness Protection? That was what I would have done, not wait til I got locked up and then claim LID. That seems kind of weird to me, so I guess the person I need to ask is the offender.

The next morning I called a friend of mine, one I knew I can trust to come to my house and wait on the files and call me as soon as they arrived. I got dressed again and gathered all my stuff and headed to the unit. I had questions that were nagging at me, and had been all night. I needed to speak with the convict and find out what was up.

I got to my office and looked the offender up on the roster and called a friend of mine in medical to have the offender brought up. I got up and left my office and went towards the Central Picket, Officer Tackel was manning the buttons this morning, "Morning Captain, how's it going?" he asked and all I could do was smile and say, "To hell quick, another one of those fine mornings." I then chuckled a little as I showed my I.D. to him. He popped the door and I walked out onto the main walkway. I remember the days when I was an Officer and walked out the central door to the main walkway and was still amazed to see the size of the unit. Now I walk out and I just stare at it, wondering what had happened to my zeal for the job? Then I remember, "Oh Yeah, I have been here longer than most of the Convicts." I would tell myself. I then turned left at the main walkway and walked to the medical department where I was met by LVN Kightlinger. He had the look of a man who wanted to be in the middle of the action, but common sense won out when he became a Nurse. They make more money, but hired on to work at the unit because he loved the action. He would be a good officer, but it doesn't pay near what he is making as a nurse. That's what makes him good, he has common sense.

"Hey Captain, what's up? I called for the convict you wanted and he should be here in a minute. Anything else I can do for you?" He said as he smiled and hung near me. He loved this part, and to keep him happy and helping me, I would give him a little bit of the investigation to ponder. Nothing that would jeopardize the case just enough to keep him happy. Sometimes I would have to flat lie and make something up. But he never leaked anything out. I never heard a bit of gossip that had his name in it. He kept every secret I told him, and I admired him for it.

"No, just the usual room for me to question an offender in. A possible LID investigation pertaining to the Mexican Mafia." OK, I lied again to him, but that made his eyes sparkle cause he knew about an investigation that I was doing and of course when I was finished with the offender he would come to me just about to burst to find out the rest.

A few minutes later I was in a room that I liked to use to question an offender in, it was away form the front of medical, no one could see in and it had a phone and desk for me. As I was getting my pen and pad out in walked Kightlinger.

"Captain, Offender Williams just walked in. When do you want me to send him in?" He asked.

"Go ahead and get him in here." I responded. Kightlinger walked away and in just a second in walked Kightling and Williams. Kightlinger walked out and shut the door, and I could see that Williams was nervous as hell. I started in by asking the basic questions, "What's your name and Number?"

He looked at me and said,"Williams, Ron. Number 1276349." I looked at my folder to make sure I had the right one. I did. I then looked at him and stated, "I heard you had a run in with a judge and warden before coming to jail, why don't you tell me about it."

He then had the look like he was about to pass out. You could see the fear in his eyes; he just knew he was fixing to be killed. Sweat started pouring from him and he gulped real big.

'I don't know what you are talking about. What judge?" he asked as he was looking around and sweating bullets.

"Look, I know the situation, I was sent to investigate the issue, you can trust me in this. I.A.D. sent me, and if you have any information in this I need to know." I tried to explain the situation to him the best I could, but I could see he wasn't about to trust me, so I tried a new a tactic.

"Tell me about your conviction; tell me what you are convicted of." I asked, hoping maybe I could get some further information, I had his file, but I wanted to hear his version of the incident and compare notes. I got a tape recorder and set it up. He sat there for a minute and just looked at me, and with a big sigh he looked down at the table and then back up at me. I could see he give up, he had a look of an individual that figured he was done for, no matter what he did and looked at and said, "You want to know, I will tell. I guess I have nothing to loose." he said as if he was giving into death and felt better about it like he had just lifted a load off his shoulders.

He then began,

"I am not exactly sure where to begin; it's a long sorted affair. But somehow I got caught up in the middle of It." he began, and then continued,

"I was a smuggler and launderer for the Warden and the Judge here. My job was to get money from the Warden and take it to the Judge who then sent back packets of drugs to the Warden. He would then distribute the drugs to inmates for a hefty profit. The drugs were then sent down range to dealers who then sold the drugs to other inmates and the proceeds were then sent back to the warden who then had me launder the money and I would get a cut of it." He explained.

I looked at him in amazement, how could this be going on in my unit and me not know?

I had to ask, "How?"

He smiled at me, and said, "Simple really. Once I tell you, I know you are going to go left on Me." and I feared he was right. My stomach started hurting, and I felt the heat building in me.

He looked at me, and the words that came out of his mouth made me so mad I wanted to hit in his mouth. "You know when you would be working on a case, and the Warden would want to interview an offender in your office?" He asked, and I said yes, "Well he would give the drugs to the offender and the offender would smuggle the package down range. No one strip searches an offender that was in the Gang Office being interviewed by the Warden, now do they?" That did it, I was pissed.

My office and me was being used as a place to distribute drugs to offenders, I was being used as a go between. That set me off. I got up and the look on the offender was pure fear, he just knew I was going to hit him in his mouth. But I remained calm; I paced back and forth a minute and calmed down and sat back down.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked

"For a while now. I know I have been doing it for over 2 years. That wasn't the only way it got in, sometimes packages would be dropped off in designated areas and one offender on the Community Work squad would pick it up and bring it in." He answered.

"How would it get through the back gate and down range after being strip searched?" I asked.

"Well first of all, the package was not on the offender, it would be disguised as an item that would be sent through and never suspected. Most of the time it was either a Johnny Sack or in the bus that was taken out. No one ever searches the bus when it returns; from there the A-Building Janitor would get it and bring it in when they were cleaning the parking lot. There are offenders here that were placed here for a specific reason. Ever wonder why some offenders never seem to get in trouble regardless of what they do?" He asked.

I never thought about it, but he was right. I remember an offender that seem to get a lot of cases, but never did seem to get into trouble.

"How much drugs are we talking about? I can't think that a whole lot would come in. A big package would get noticed."

"Your right, the amount would be small, but what may sell for 10 dollars on the street would sell for about 20 or 30 here. The order would be placed and then be brought in. It wouldn't be like a street deal, where a drug dealer would come up ask if you want some. An offender would place an order, and pre-pay in advance, and then an order would be placed with the warden. The warden would then place the order with the judge who would get the drugs. They would split the profit, and then I would launder the money and get a cut from both. I also delivered the drugs to a designated area, or just meet the warden in a designated place and give him the drugs." He answered.

He continued, "There are right now about 5 offenders on this unit that work for the judge and the warden. They all have jobs that are easy to maneuver around the compound and not get noticed. They are paid good to be here, and they are making big money to send home. When there "sentence" is up they will have a fat bank account waiting on them. There family lets them know when they get a payment, and plus money is placed on there books as well."

I had to ask, "Do you know the offenders?"

He laughed, and said, "Yeah. I have there resume in my locker. Of course I don't. But I am sure I will meet at least one of them, you know I am going to be killed here on this unit."

I looked at him and then asked why he was here.

He explained, "Well I started getting greedy, I would take a bigger cut of the pay off than I was supposed to."

"How. If it was all pre-set how could you with it being noticed right off the bat at first?"

"Well, it's like this; the money is laundered through a series of dummy accounts in different banks across the city. I would place money in one account, and then turn around and have the percentage transferred into another account from that account and then from that account I would take a withdrawal. Now here is how I was doing it, the money sitting in the accounts was drawing interest, I had set it up to have 1% percent of the interest to be deposited into another account I set up in another name. Now that may not seem like a lot, but you got to think that in each of the accounts is millions of dollars. 1% percent of that is a lot from different accounts. There are 5 different banks in this town; each one has millions of dollars. Not all that is drugs from the unit. They are into lots of venues. Drugs, guns, prostitution. You name it and it is there."

"Didn't some one keep the books on the dummy accounts?" I asked

"Yup, here is how the trick was done, with all the transfers of cash, you have to pay a fee. I set the account up in a name of what appeared to be a fee. You see I would have my fee deposited, and right next to it would be the dummy fee. I did it for over two years until I was caught."

"Well why go through the trouble to have you sent to prison, and then killed inside the prison? Why not do it in the streets?" I asked.

"Who really investigates a murder in prison, think about it, a riot kick off, some one gets killed, its just the nature of the beast. They will be to busy investigating the riot, not that some inmate was killed in the riot." he explained.

The sad part, he was right. We would spend more time investigating why we had a riot, not some inmate being shanked.

I looked up at the clock, it was 30 minutes til count time on the unit, and I didn't want the convict over here at count time. I closed my file and my notebook and informed him to go back to his dorm. I explained I didn't want him here at count, that it would leave a paper trail of him being here.

I did ask before he left though, "When you filed the emergency grievance, was you aware that the grievance would go to the warden?"

"Yeah, I figured, that is why I filed an emergency through a friend of mine out in the world, I told him that if anything happened to me to send a grievance to the state from out in the world. That way it wouldn't go through channels here. I guess it worked." he explained.

I gathered my recorder, and all my equipment, waited for him to exit the building and then I left. I went through intake while he went through the front door of the medical department. My mind was reeling with the information I had. I needed to place him in segregation for protective custody, but if I did that it would sure place him in danger. Were any officers involved, would that just place him a box neatly wrapped for anyone to get to him?

I made it to my office and sat down behind my desk. My sergeant was gone for the day, and no one else was in the office. I was glad; I didn't really want to talk to anyone. I was all kinds of confused, mad, and worried. Who could I trust, who could I talk to. No one that I knew of at this point. The inmate, what I would I do with him. He is in danger, and very well could get killed today; he may be getting killed right now. I opened up the file again and began reading the file. As I was reading the file, the phone rang. I answered it again, thinking, "Damn phones!"

A ladies voice was on the other end, the front desk operator, "Capt. Lane, you have a phone call from I.A.D."

"Go ahead and patch it through." I answered. That was nothing new; I was always getting a phone call from I.A.D.

"Capt. Lane, this is Inspector Duke. How are you doing?" he asked this question as if we were just chatting about old times, I got rather annoyed with him. Just hearing his voice set my teeth on end.

"Well considering what I am doing I am ok. But I know the day will only get worse, the heat and all. I am thinking about leaving the unit early today and going to get something to drink, maybe get something to eat." I answered him back, hoping he would understand that I was wanting to meet him somewhere, but couldn't speak openly on the phone. I know the place is wired for sound, all prisons are. So I did really not want to speak, and I didn't want to sound like I was trying to hide something on the phone, in case we were being listened to.

"I understand. The reason for my call was to see if the file on the tobacco issue was ever sent." he stated.

"Yes sir, it was sent." I responded back, he then stated, "Ok, well I guess I will let you go, I think I am going to go and get something cold to drink. That sounds good." He then hung the phone. I gathered my stuff and placed it in my brief case, and walked out.

I got to my car, climbed in and started my car. I pulled out onto the facility road, and started heading into town. As I turned right onto the city main street my cell phone rang. I answered the Phone, "Capt. Lane."

"Hello Captain. It's me again." It was the sound of my teeth again.

"Inspector, how are you doing? I was really hoping you wouldn't say anything, the place is wired for sound." I explained to him.

"I kinda figured it was. Where can we meet, I am in town." He inquired.

I answered back, thinking that I really didn't want to do this, "Well there is a nice little café in the middle of town. Across from the courthouse. I am just now pulling up to it."

"OK, I will be there in about 5 minutes." He replied back.

I got my file out and headed in. I was met at the door by a cute little Hispanic waitress and informed her that I would need a table for two. She guided me to the back of the café and I ordered my drink. She left and was back in less that 5 minutes, she had my drink, and a bowl of chips and salsa. I wasn't hungry, but was thirsty. Not for soda though, I felt like I needed a stiff drink. The sad part is, I don't drink.

I looked up in time to see the Inspector walk into the room, and I just looked at him and wondered to myself, if I hit him in the mouth, would I go to jail? I just sat there, figuring that it wasn't worth it.

"Captain, it's good to see you again. I just hate seeing you like this." He greeted me as he stuck his hand out.

I shook his hand, and fought back the urge to go wash it. I smiled and responded back, "Yes. I hate meeting under these conditions myself. But I was wondering why you wanted to meet with me. I just started on the case, and haven't gotten too far."

"Well", he began, "It's like this. We heard from a source that they are planning to riot, and in that riot they are going to hit him. That puts a dilemma on our hands. We have to protect the witness, but if we pull him out of the unit, we give up our hand and scare the Warden and Judge. But on the other hand, we can't leave him there and take a chance of getting the witness killed."

"Well something has to be done. I can't place him in Segregation for Protective Custody; we both know that aint safe either." I informed him.

"I know. Today is Wed. The riot is to take place on Saturday morning. They are choosing Saturday, cause it is visitation, less staff, and harder to call staff in on a weekend. They are counting on the staff to first ensure the visitors safety before going down range. That will give them a window of opportunity. The riot is going to go off on the recreation yard." He informed me. He then added to it like it was no big deal, "You have 48 hours to make a case before we pull him. A transport van will show up Friday Afternoon with U.S. Marshals and a warrant for the witness. We will make a case with what we have if you haven't come up with anything."

I asked him, in a rather agitated voice, "How am I supposed to make a case in 48 hours?"

He responded back as he was getting up, "Captain, that's up to you." And proceeded to walk off.

I sat there staring at the back of his head, imagining a bullet entering it, and then I just smiled. Oh well, I thought, I always wanted a case that was a career builder or destroyer. I found out, be careful what you wish for, you may get it.

**Chapter Two**

48 hours. Well I guess I need to get to work. That was what I was thinking to myself. I threw a ten dollar bill on the table, and walked out. I had my file with me and my thoughts in my head. I sat in my SUV and read the file again, and started the tape of the interview with the convict. I was listening to it. As I listened to the tape, I knew I had to find out who was selling the drugs, where they were coming from. I headed back to the unit. I looked at my watch, it was 12:30 pm. Administration would still be there.

I pulled up at the unit and I saw the Warden in the parking lot on his cell phone. I had a hard time looking at him. I fought back the urge to walk up to him and pop him in his mouth. I respected the man, he gave me a chance to do something I always wanted, and he was someone I looked up to. Now he was a thug. That pissed me off more than anything.

I got out of my SUV and started in when I heard, "Hey Cap. What's up?"

I turned around and it was the Warden, "Not much warden. Killing time before it kills me." I smiled and waved back as if nothing was wrong.

He was getting in his car as he hollered back, "Hey, I will be gone the rest of the day. A/W has the compound."

"Getting an early start on the week-end?" I joked at him, hoping to sound non-chalant.

"No, I wish. Got a meeting at the courthouse today." he answered.

He climbed in and started the car, and left the unit.

I started thinking, a meeting at the courthouse. I wanted to follow, but I knew he would see my SUV, and wonder why I was following. So I let him make it this time. I proceeded into the unit. I went straight to my office. I had to interview O/F Williams again. But I knew that it was going to be hard to keep pulling him out. I called the housing unit he was assigned to, "I need O/F Williams, cell number 5, to report to the Disciplinary Office."

"Yes sir Captain." was the response I got from the control officer.

That makes it easier, since my office is across the hall from the Disciplinary Hearing Office, and I always send offenders there. The DHO Captain, he just sends them right over. No questions asked.

10 minutes later there was a knock on my office door, it O/F Williams.

"You wanted to see me Captain?" he asked, looking a little white.

"Get in here and shut the door convict." I told him. "Sit down."

He sat, as he sat down I opened up the file again, "I need to ask you a few more questions." I began, "Where did you get the drugs?"

He looked at me and asked, "Are you trying to get me killed?"

I don't know why, but that set me off. I got up from behind my desk and walked over to the convict, who was still sitting, and I leaned over him. My face was about 3 inches from his, and I said in a low whisper, "Convict, if I was trying to get you killed. You would be dead. I am trying to keep you alive, and I aint got time for no convict games. You best start talking to me so I can protect you. You feel me, convict?"

He became solid white with fear, and he started sweating again. I was thinking that he was about to piss his pants. He nodded and said in a strained voice, "Yes sir Captain."

I sat back down and looked at him, "Now let's start over. Where did you get the drugs?"

"I would get them from different places, but the main supplier was a guy named Gary Lyons. He was an ex-convict from the system. He did time at the Darlington Unit. He stated that he knew the Warden from when he did time there. He stated that he worked for the Warden as his porter in Admin. He was convicted of Drug Trafficking by the same Judge." He answered me in a voice that was shaking.

"Where does this guy live, how did you meet him?" I asked.

"Well," he began, "Gary lives in an old house out on F.M. 1287 approx 5 miles North of town. I met him through another guy. We began running around, and one day he asked me if I wanted to earn a little cash. I needed the money so I said, I didn't ask what I had to do, I was desperate. He then handed me a package and told me what to do with it. I did it, got paid a good sum of money and never did ask what was in the package. I was called a couple more times to do the same thing, and from there it just got to the point that I started doing it all the time."

"After a while," he continued, "He and I became friends and started talking, that is how I found out what I was doing, and how he knew the warden. I really didn't care, I was getting good money. I was finally able to do what I wanted, I had money, I was doing something that was earning me some bank. Man alive, I had serious cash, a car, and all I had to do was just deliver packages, or pick up packages. Sometimes I would deliver cash, or drugs, or both. I never asked questions, never opened the packages. The only way I knew what was in them was the fact that Gary and I talked sometimes. We hung out, partied, and went fucking around."

I just let him talk; he had something to get off his chest so I let him. You could see his eyes, he was just going on, he knew he had to tell some one, he was confessing, telling his story. He knew he had to; he wanted to get his side out there before he was unable to. I knew it, so I let him. I recorded everything he said. I don't care about convicts, but I also care less for crooked cops. I had to get this crooked cop off the unit, and I knew I had to do it with the help of this convict, plus I can't just let something happen to this convict, regardless.

If I let something happen to him, and just turn my head the other direction, I would be no better than him. The more he talked the more I leaned.

He continued talking, "Gary was telling me one day that he was working in Admin as an SSI, one day he and the Warden was talking as he was cleaning the warden's office when the warden asked him what he had done to get convicted. Gary told him how he was a drug runner, and used to deliver drugs. He told him how he and a partner had set it up that packages were dropped off in designated areas, and that the person to pick them up would come by later and pick up the packages and leave a package of cash at another designated area. That way the runners would never be at the same place at the same time and never saw each other. Gary said that he could see the warden was interested in it, and over a period of time the warden kept asking more and more questions about it til one day the warden asked if he still had his connections. Gary knew right then that he had him. One day he and the warden had a conversation about setting up a deal, Gary would get a percentage of the take, and from that day he and the warden and the judge got together in the unit and started setting up a plan. It just took off from there. Every time the warden got transferred to another unit it wasn't long before Gary would be transferred to that unit and the operation would continue. Gary got the best dorms, the best work details, mainly in admin. Never got a case. Then one day, it got time for Gary to start getting ready to chain out. The warden had him recruit another convict, he did. That convict is here now. Gary would have me deliver the packages, and the convict would get them and the drugs are sold down range. I don't know the convict; I don't want to know to know the convict."

I finally had to stop him; I looked at him and asked,

"How did you get to the point that you fell out of grace with the two?"

"Well," he answered, "after I was caught skimming, there was no second chance. Normally they would have just got rid of me, but here is the kicker. I had evidence, and knew to much. The warden is paranoid, I don't know if you noticed it or not. But he just knew I would start talking and so he had it arranged him and the judge, to have me arrested. I went before the judge and was sentenced here. I was sentenced to death, even though there is no execution chamber here."

I could see the worry and fear in his eyes, I knew he had at that point resigned himself to death. He knew his days were numbered, and the sad part about it is, I knew his days were numbered. I had til Saturday, and today was Wednesday. I had to hurry and do what I could, which was solve this, and get him safe. The feds were coming for him Friday that did not give me much time.

I asked him, "What about your attorney, did you have one? You had to have an attorney. Right?"

"Yeah, I had an attorney, court appointed. But I wouldn't let him help me. I plead guilty to the charge that I was arrested for. The attorney tried to get me off, but I wouldn't let him. I didn't trust him. He was court appointed, so I figured that no matter what I was going to say, I would have been found guilty, I was going to go to prison. Regardless."

"Well why didn't you claim witness protection, turn states evidence? You could have gotten into a safe environment, not have to go through all this." I asked, that was one question that had been plaguing me along.

"Simple, who was I going to tell? My court appointed attorney, the judge, the deputies at the sheriffs department? I figured if I got to a state prison, then I might have a chance, someplace that I might be able to get a letter out to the FBI, or what ever. I found out I could file an emergency grievance when I got here, and I would have the chance to get some help. I was not aware that they would investigate it on the unit. I thought that I might get some help from away from here."

I could tell right then that he did not trust me, I don't blame him. He was talking to me though, and I asked him, "Look you don't trust me, I can see that. You think that I am in on it just like every one else. So why are working with me, why are you talking?"

" I guess I just got to the point that I don't care anymore what happens to me. I just want my side of the story out there so someone might know what happened. I know I am going to die here, I just want to be heard before I do get killed."

The look on him was pissing me off, he gave up the fight. That is the worst thing that can be done. I shut his file, and sat back, put my pen down. I looked at him, and he looked up at me. I told him, "I aint working on this just to get you killed. I aint like that, never have been never will be. I aint crooked, and if I have to get crooked to work here, then I won't be working here anymore. I am proud of what I do; I was placed on this investigation from outside the unit. I was asked to do this by IAD. They put me on it because I am on the unit and they don't want to send someone in here that will spook anyone. How are we going to get any evidence on the warden or the judge if some one from outside is poking around?"

He looked at me, and for the first time you could see a small glimmer of hope, and he asked, "Are you serious? You really are trying to help me?"

"Yes." was the only answer I could tell him.

"You want evidence then; I will tell you where to get evidence. I have a bunch of evidence, stored at my house. I have books, documents, ledgers that I have been keeping notes in." He stated.

I looked at him in amazement, I couldn't believe what I had just heard, and "You have evidence? What kind of evidence?"

He looked at me and smiled, "I have ledgers where I have been keeping money logged, I have documents from the bank that I have been laundering the money through, I have notes on the amount of money and the dates and times I have deposited the money and where it came from as well as the amounts. I have the account numbers, the names of the banks, as well as the deposit slips, and withdrawal slips."

"Where is it at?" I asked in amazement.

"At my house, in a safe place that can't be stumbled on. I aint a complete idiot. I put it there in case I was able to get help, I would send someone to get it."

OK, all I had to do was go and get it, but I knew this was too good to be true. I was going to need help though. Plus I couldn't just send him back to G.P., if he got killed; it would be all on me. I wasn't planning to do fed time because I let an inmate get killed. Just not happening. There was only one person I could trust to help me on this, one that could be trusted regardless; I needed to find my Sergeant. I got my radio, "4322 to 4330."

I got an answer, "4330, go ahead Captain."

"25 the office Sarge."

About 5 minutes later in walked my Sergeant, Sgt. Justin Douglas

"What's up Cap?' he asked.

"Inmate, get out in the hallway. Sit down sergeant." He looked at me and sat down; he had this look on his face that he wasn't going to like where this was going. I outlined the entire investigation, gave him the file, and let him read through it. By the time he was finished all he could say was, "You have got to be shitting Me." and that was his only response.

"I wish I was, I wish this was all a joke, but it aint. So how do you feel about doing a shakedown of a free world house? O/F states that he has evidence in his home, all we have to do is go get it." I told him.

"Do we know exactly where it is, or are we going to have to search it completely til we find it?" he asked.

I answered back, "He is going to tell us where it is. But first we need to lock him in seg for P.C., but to do that we may endanger him even more. So we need to find a way to lock him up without placing him in danger. Any ideas?"

"I got a couple. Inmate get in here." He answered.

The door opened up and in walked Williams, "Yes sir Sgt." he answered.

"OK, we need to lock you up in seg for your own protection, but we can't just lock you up for P.C., that may send up red flags. We need to come up with a reason; can you give us a reason?" Sarge asked.

"Sarge, I can't go to seg that will put me in a place that is even more dangerous than G.P." O/F stated

"Well, we can't let you go back to G.P., we are bound by law to protect you, and one of the laws is that we know you are in danger, we have to house you in a safe place. If we don't and something happens to you, then we go to jail." I informed him, then added, "Let me call IAD, maybe they can help me on this."

I picked up the phone and called IAD Headquarters and spoke with Inspector Duke.

I briefed the inspector on the investigation so far and inquired about housing O/F Williams.

"Well Captain that changes everything. He is now a material witness, if he is cooperating with the investigation and going to turn states evidence, then he falls under the witness protection program. Hold him under your watch; I am going to have an emergency subpoena drawn up to have the offender escorted to county lock up here. I want you and your sergeant to transport the offender here, then turn around and find that evidence." He explained to me.

"Alright, but one thing," I added, "I want it done in my P.O.V. Not a state van, I want something that I can maneuver in and that will get some speed in it if I need it."

"No problem, the subpoena hasn't been sent yet." he stated.

30 minutes later I was getting a call from the Major, "Captain, we have an emergency subpoena that was just sent to us from the State. You and your Sergeant have been ordered to transport O/F Williams to the Feds, and get this, by P.O.V."

I answered back, "Yes sir, I am already on it." and then proceeded to explain the situation to the Major. He was kind of shocked as to the situation a little, but you could see more disappointment than anything.

About 30 minutes later Sgt. Douglas and I was escorting the offender in restraints to the back gate to my P.O.V. We were dressed in our BDU's and had on vest; our weapons were in the armory. I placed the offender in my P.O.V. and my sergeant retrieved our weapons. Both of us were carrying 9 mm semi-auto pistols with extra clips as well as a 12 gauge shot gun with extra ammo. Well pulled out on the highway and was taking off. We made it through town without any problems. But I just had this gut feeling it wouldn't last. I could see Sgt. Douglas was on edge as well, he kept looking around and fidgeting. I knew that was his way of handling stress. But we had a long stretch of empty highway ahead of us, anything could happen. I knew it would too. That's my luck.

**Chapter Three**

I never heard the shot, but heard the back window blow out of my SUV.

"Son of a Bitch, Captain we are taking shots!" My sergeant hollered; as he was turning around in his eat. He reached back and grabbed the offender and pushed him down on the floor board, and drew his weapon and fired a couple of rounds out the rear.

I grabbed my cellphone and began dialing 911; I had to get us some help. The shooters were not really worried that they were shooting a prison transport, so I knew they were not too worried about shooting to officers. I was connected to a local police department and advised them of our situation. I was informed a deputy was dispatched to hang on. Like I had a choice.

"Sarge, we got help coming!" I hollered, he was still looking back. The shooters had stopped shooting, which made me wonder why. We topped a hill and I saw why, the road was blocked by 2 black Suburban's and about 4 guys with weapons. About that time Sarge turned around when he felt me slow down and muttered, "Mother Fucker.". My thoughts exactly. I looked at my sergeant and asked, "What do you think?"

His response was rolling down the window, and saying, "Don't stop!" and began firing his pistol out the window at them.

That drove them to cover as I shot around them on the shoulder. Sergeant looked back at me and smiled, and hollered, "Floor it Captain, there coming this way!" I put my foot down hard on the accelerator and felt the engine hum to life. I could hear shooting coming from behind me, and all I could is hope to God that they don't blow my tires out.

I looked and saw my sergeant turn around in the seat as he took aim and heard the report of his pistol. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw steam rising from one of the suburban's as he shot a hole in the radiator of one of them. That still left two coming and I was wondering where help was.

As he was shooting at them they were shooting at us, and I knew my luck couldn't hold out for long. I was beginning to get nervous. I was feeling the bullets hitting my SUV as they fired at us, and I could sarge firing his weapon back. I knew it was just a matter of time before we got hit and disabled. All of a sudden I heard sarge say, "They stopped and are turning around." I looked in the mirror and sure enough they stopped chasing us and cut across the grass and headed back in the direction we came from.

About that time I saw 4 police cars heading our way with lights blazing and sirens screaming. I turned on my flashers and pulled over. About that time every cop coming swerved towards us and came to a screeching stop, they flung their doors open and jumped out with guns drawn hollering for us to get out.

The lead deputy drew his weapon and began barking orders, "Driver! Get out of the car! Keep both hands raised in the air!" I got out and he began hollering, "Get on the ground! Face down! Hands out to your side!" I did as I was told, then they cuffed me, my sergeant was ordered to do the same, and then the convict was taken out of the SUV. I didn't mind the fact that I was cuffed and all, I was just happy it was cuffs being placed on me and not a toe tag. I was smiling the whole time thinking to myself, when I get home, I am gonna throw my phone in the trash and burn it!

After everything was settled down and the deputies looked at my Badge and I/D, they released me and my sergeant out of the cuffs. I explained the situation to Deputy Church and he put out a description of the other vehicles, and sent two deputies to the one that the hole was shot in the radiator. When they arrived they radioed back that no one was there, which I knew that would be the case, and that the License Plate and all identifying tags had been stripped off. They secured the suburban though for Crime Scene Tech's to go over it. But I knew they would not find anything.

The convict was secured in a police cruiser, we all loaded up and a wrecker was sent to get my SUV. My SUV was being secured as well as evidence, so I lost my SUV for a while. That made me mad. I got on my phone and called IAD.

"Inspector Duke, this is Capt. Lane. We have a slight situation." I explained the whole story to him. Once I explained the whole situation he surprised me.

"Are you OK? How is your sergeant?" He asked. That threw me, I was expecting him to ask about the convict first, I explained that we were ok. Then he asked, "Where are they taking you?" I explained that they were taking us to the county sheriffs department. He stated that he would meet us there. We hung up, and Sgt. Douglas asked, "So what did he say?"

"He just wondered how we were doing; he actually sounded worried about us. Let me find out he aint such a bad guy after all." I joked.

We pulled up to the Sheriffs Department and pulled into the sally port, the deputy got out of the car and opened the doors for us. I took control of the convict and we walked him in. He was placed into a holding cell until we could get him somewhere else. Sarge and I was taken into an office where wrote statement about the incident and was interviewed by a detective. It was standard procedure, so I wasn't really to bothered by it. About an hour later Inspector Duke came in the room and showed the detective his badge and I/D, and Inspector Duke took the statements and placed them in his pocket.

"Detective from this point I am assuming control of this investigation by the authority of the United States Marshals Office." Then the Inspector looked at me and held up his I/D and said, "Captain, I am not actually with the IAD. I am with the United States Marshals Office. Come with me."

We walked out of the sheriffs department and got into his car, he looked at me and began, "The convict you were transporting isn't actually a convict. He is a Deputy Marshall on a case, but he got jammed up and was placed in jail. His cover wasn't blown, we know that for sure or he would already be dead. But we had to get him out of there so we turned to you to get him out. We couldn't explain the situation and take a chance that the information would get leaked out. So we played it off this way. If we played it off that he was a witness and we had to get him into Protective Custody then we could transport him off the facility."

I looked at him and asked, "You mean all of this was just an act? Just part of the role, and we were used to get a U.S. Marshall out of jail? What about the info he gave me?"

"That was real info, that is the investigation, and everything about the warden is true. The investigation is still ongoing, but we need your help in this as well. We need someone to go back and pick up on the investigation from that end. Williams is out of that end, we are going to go into the system by order of the government and delete all information on the fact that Williams was ever in that unit. Captain, you are involved in an investigation that goes way up."

"Well if you know all of that, then just go and arrest him. You seem to have enough to get a warrant. Get one and bust his ass."

"We can't just yet, we want all the players involved. We believe this may go way up. We want it all, not just the warden, we want the judge, the lawyers and every dirty cop, officer that is involved. We need that evidence that is hidden as well, but we can't just step in and take it. You see we believe that there may be more involved, and we want to find out whom."

I looked at Sgt. Douglas and stated, "That would explain why he has all that evidence he was telling me about. I was wondering why some crook would have tapes, ledgers and video evidence."

Sarge looked at me and smiled, "Yup. Now I understand. I guess we were just not seeing the big picture, we weren't looking at the big screen T.V."

I looked at him and smiled back, "Don't make me shoot you sarge."

I looked at the Inspector, Marshall, what ever he was and said, "We're in. What do you want us to do?"

He smiled and said, "I figured you would be. Lets get to my office; there we can work out the details." He got out of his car and we followed him in. Williams came out of an office; he was dressed in jeans and a T-Shirt. Looked a lot different, his badge was on his belt and he had his gun.

"Captain. That was some mighty fine driving you did back there, and Sarge. You got some real skills on shooting." He said as he smiled at us. I shook his hand and just looked at him and smiled. I couldn't believe it, just a little while ago he was a convict in my office, and played a great scared convict at that. He looked at me and stated, "Hey. No hard feelings, I had a job to do. You had a job to do. It was kind of comforting to know that I was in the hands of some one who was actually going to help me. I will be honest; I was thinking I was in this by myself at first. Then I saw how pissed you got when I suggested that you were dirty, I knew right then I was going to be OK. Thanks."

"No problem. I am just glad I am able to help." We shook hands again, and Duke came over and said, "Let's go. We have a lot of work to do."

We loaded into the vehicles, with the exception of mine, and headed to the USMS headquarters. This day was just going to keep getting longer. As we were driving down the road, Duke looked at me and said, "I called the unit. Told them we had possession of the Inmate. They took him off their count. I also explained that I would have you call them. Now when you call them, tell them you dropped off the inmate and you are heading back. If they ask about any situation tell them all went fine, no problems. Tell them that you did have a slight vehicle malfunction on the way back, and that you had to get a rental car. We are going to provide you with a car."

I got on my phone and called the unit, I was patched through to Classification. I explained that the inmate had been dropped off and was on my way back. No one asked about anything at all. They hung up and I hung up. I looked at Duke, "Well, that was easy. No one asked about anything, they said ok."

"Good, that buys us some time, when we get to the office we can go everything, and get this wrapped up hopefully."

We drove into downtown, no one really speaking. Just thinking. Each of us had our thoughts that were deep in our own minds. Each of us thinking of the future, the present. Each of us was wondering what was going to happen next, but no one really was planning on what was about to happen. I sat there in the car as we drove, just staring out the passenger side window and remembering when I first got into corrections and how simple it was. Show up for work, keep the convicts inside the fence, and go home. Not too complicated. Where did that all change? How did it change, and how come I didn't see it coming? I sat there wondering how this was going to affect my job, what will happen to me in the future once this over? What will I do, where will I go. The only thing that kept me going right now was the job. Doing the job, that was all I cared about.

Some people live for their kids, their spouse, and their pets. I live for the job. That is what defines me is my job. I just kept staring out the window watching the cars and buildings and people pass by and thinking about how they are just walking around with out a care in the world. I was wondering what each of them live for, what defines each one of them. Is it their kids, their spouse, their job?

I had been wondering all this time why I was doing the job I was doing, and what made me turn to it. How did I get into it, and why did I get into it. I never really thought about it til this day, and then it hit all at one time. Then when I did think about it, the thought that came to me was, would I do anything else? Could I do anything else? What else would I do if I could?

We pulled up to the building and into the garage; we got out of the car and went inside. On the inside we had to show our I/D's and was wanded, but once in the office we sat down and began a meeting that would seem to me like it was forever.

We sat down at a long meeting table, and in front of each of us was a folder. In the folder were pictures, and statements, and out lines of each person involved. At the head of the table was a projector and behind it was a screen on the wall. There were agents everywhere in the room, some in suits, and some in street clothes. Sarge and I were in the room, and not feeling very comfortable.

We found out that not all the agents in the room were Marshal's, some were FBI, some were street detectives from the local P.D. and some were local sheriff's deputies. We were the only State Jail Investigators in the room. We were only in the room for a little bit when 3 men entered the room, looking rather important. They walked over to the head of the table and started out the meeting.

"Good even ladies and gentlemen. I know this is kind of a bit impromptu, but we had to have this meeting. As you all know Agent Williams was paroled today, congrats on getting your parole." The first gentleman started out with a smile, and Agent Williams just stood and waved at everyone smiling back. The lead agent, I found out was Director Roger Mayer with the USMS. Mayer continued, "But a serious note, we had to pull Agent Williams due to the situation he was placed in, but we have not lost all. We have an inside man to help us, and be able to conduct the investigation from that end. I would like to introduce Capt. David Lane and Sgt. Justin Douglas with the State Jail Special Investigations Squad, or The Gang Unit, as they are commonly referred to."

Everyone turned and looked at us, and we just waved at everyone and Director Mayer continued on, "Now if each one will pick up the folder in front of you, you will see an outline of the activities so far. Capt. Lane and his Sergeant will conduct the investigation from the State Jail end while the FBI will conduct their investigation across the state lines. I need the Marshal's to conduct their investigation close the state border going into Mexico. The street level detectives, I want their investigation into the dope houses in the area, and I want to find out who is supplying the dope. Where is it coming from, how is it getting here."

Each one of us picked up a folder, each folder had our name on it and specifics of what were doing. At that point, the director turned the meeting over to another man that was identified as Detective/Captain Steve Little, a Street Level detective with the County S.O.

He walked up and picked up the remote to the projector and turned it on. Up on the screen flashed a picture of the Warden himself. Detective Little began, "As you all know this is Warden Brian Thompson, he has been warden of different facilities. We know that at each facility he has the same offender eventually transferred to that unit, and that same offender always seems to become the Administration Janitor. It always seems that shortly after the offender becomes a janitor, the drug traffic begins to pick up. We know that the warden is supplying the drugs to the convict to sell down range. Now here is the problem, we need to know exactly how he is getting the drugs, and where the drugs are coming from. We need all the key players involved. I want to get everyone involved, right down to the street level dealer, all the way to the main man supplying the drugs. We have enough to bust the warden, but I want more. I want it all, and we are going to do it in one move."

At that point the detective began showing pictures of all involved, and a bio of each one. By the time we were finished, I knew each person involved and each one of their habits, and dis-likes, likes. We were finally dismissed from the meeting approx 4 hours after the meeting began. I picked up my folder and all my stuff; we met with Inspector Duke, and got the key to our "rental car" and headed out. Sarge and I knew that this was going to go south before long. We got into the car and started the engine, and then Sarge looked at me and said, "You know Captain, this aint going to be pretty. We need to get back; get that evidence and hopefully turn it over and we can get up out of this."

I looked at him and said, "Yup." And that was all I wanted to say, didn't feel like talking at all. I started the car and pulled out onto the street and headed home. It was an extremely long drive.

Chapter 4

We arrived back to the unit. Neither one of spoke all the way back, but we knew what each of us was thinking. We entered into facility, it was late and no one was at the front desk. We walked in and went down to our office. We knew we had to get to the house and get the evidence. I looked at Sarge and asked him, "You want to go and try and get the evidence now, or wait?"

"Lets go and try for it now; if we wait we take a chance on it being gone." He responded. I knew he was right, and we left the unit again.


End file.
